2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:32 pm  

Ken Sio v Adam Quinlan
Iain Thornley v Jake Butler-Fleming
Kieron Dixon v Kieron Moss
Josh Mantellato v Andrew Heffernan
Terry Campese v Jordan Abdull
Albert Kelly v Jamie Ellis
Adam Walker v Nick Scruton
Dane Tilse v Mitch Clark
John Boubebza v ???
James Green v George Milton
Kevin Larroyer v ???
Mitch Allgood v Danny Addy

James Webster v Tim Sheens

Obviously positons not entirely the same due to us signing two recognised fullbacks & Ken sio not really playing fullback, Thus leaving Rovers with no outgoing fullback. Still I feel Sio aside our outside backs are a massive step up. Whilst awaiting a few forwards to be announced before the season kicks off I feel our forwards have taken a step back. In the halves Campese not really playing negates the loss of Kelly with two halves coming in.

Fairly even put i think our 2017 squad has alot more points in them.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 7:27 pm  

2016 played against SL defences, this year we will be playing versus mainly part time players. Yep, we will score more points.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 7:31 pm  

Hard to say your backs are better when you have never seen one play and another one in only one friendly, won't be able to say until the middle 8's.

One thing I will say your team this year on paper isn't far off last years, if this team is done on 1.2m or so, shows how bad your recruitment was and how good it is this year.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 7:37 pm  

Spot on Dave, it's showing what you can get if you don't tie up 1/3 of your cap on 3 players.

However, we are getting way ahead of ourselves as usual.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 8:04 pm  

SirStan wrote:

Spot on Dave, it's showing what you can get if you don't tie up 1/3 of your cap on 3 players.

However, we are getting way ahead of ourselves as usual.

Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism, the only down side I would be thinking is that the regular season will be a bit boring.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 8:25 pm  

Dave K. wrote:

Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism, the only down side I would be thinking is that the regular season will be a bit boring.

I think some home games will be a bit of a precession but I'm really looking forward to life on the road this season. New grounds to visit in Toulouse ( went there in 2013 but TOXIII play at a different ground), Swinton and Oldham, and a few to return to after 10 years. It has to be a one-off though or we are in trouble.

The middle 8's are so important, more than any time in the clubs recent history.

Will you miss us this year?

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:10 pm  

On paper Kelly and campese were the best pairing in the league . Unfortunately they rarely played together. Ellis and kebabdul are steady enough.but would they get a gig together in super league? More than adequate for league campaign but come middle8s and probably mpg I think not enough to win us that game..hope to be proven wrong

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:15 pm  

Stan. You are bang on about us not getting ahead of ourselves. I still feel that a lot of our Championship opposition will seek to step up their intensity and performances against us this year to counter our so-called "favourites" tag.

How we deal with it and respond as a collective on the park will be a measure of our progress as a team from last season when we failed to even deal with the intensity of Oldham in the CC followed by the pressure and intensity of the middle 8s and Mpg when we imploded when it mattered most.

The way I see it we need to avoid complacency, inconsistency, a lack of composure, a lack of belief and conservatism in our game plans to do well in the 2017 regular season.

To get into the 8s and back into SL, we need flair, creativity, patience, intensity, speed and effort week in week out to keep winning.

Winning becomes habitual and a winning streak heading into the 8s will give us a huge confidence boost and the passion and momentum to down a couple of SL sides as well as the 3 Championship sides necessary to get back into SL.

The Sheens factor is the key element in this mix more than the players at this preseason moment.

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:18 pm  

It's a shame Bradford have gone the way they have, even with them in, you would have won the league, but it would have added much more interest and competition to the league

Re: 2016 V's 2017 : Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:19 pm  

SirStan wrote:

I think some home games will be a bit of a precession but I'm really looking forward to life on the road this season. New grounds to visit in Toulouse ( went there in 2013 but TOXIII play at a different ground), Swinton and Oldham, and a few to return to after 10 years. It has to be a one-off though or we are in trouble.

The middle 8's are so important, more than any time in the clubs recent history.

Will you miss us this year?

I'll miss some parts, but never really enjoyed the Derby games, although the last two season have certainly been more enjoyable

I think you have a very good chance of coming back up, think Widnes and maybe Salford are your target teams.

Blackpool will be great.